5 Tips for How to Count Calories
According to the CDC, almost half of all American adults try to lose weight at least once each year. They join gyms and commit to eating healthier in an attempt to shed a few pounds.
If you’re interested in trying to lose weight, you will need to do these two things. But it’ll also be important for you to learn how to count calories.
Counting calories will enable you to scale back on how many calories you’re taking in every day. This should, in turn, allow you to begin losing weight in no time at all.
It can, however, be difficult for some people to keep up with how many calories they’re putting into their bodies. Check out five tips for how to count calories below and use them to start losing weight ASAP.
1. Look at the Labels on Food
The good news for those who are trying to figure out how to count calories is that many food manufacturers will make it easy on you. They’ll list how many calories are in a particular food right on the label for it.
They’ll also list how many carbohydrates, how much fat, etc. is in a particular food on its label. You should digest all of this information before you begin eating so that you know what you’ll be putting into your body.
Food labels should become your best friends when you’re on a weight-loss journey. They’ll equip you with all the information that you’ll need to make smarter food choices.
2. Find a Good Food Database Online
Many of the foods that you buy on a regular basis have labels on them that will help you count calories. But there are, of course, going to be some foods that you eat that don’t have the number of calories listed on them.
If, for example, you buy a cut of beef or a bag of apples, these things won’t have labels indicating how many calories they have in them. In this case, you’ll need to look for a good food database online that can provide you with calorie counts for different foods.
This Calorie Details food database is one of the very best food databases around. It’ll tell you how many calories are in more than 350,000 foods.
3. Keep Portion Sizes in Mind
Regardless of where you get your info about how many calories are in foods, portion size is something that you should always keep in the back of your mind. You won’t be doing yourself any favors if you eat low-calorie foods but have giant portion sizes of them.
In order to count the number of calories in a meal that you eat, you’ll need to know how big your portion sizes were for each aspect of it. This might involve you weighing the foods that you eat or at the very least getting good at estimating the portion sizes of different foods.
You’ll need to get into the habit of practicing good portion control if your ultimate goal is to lose as much weight as you can. It’ll be the only reliable way to cut calories from your diet.
4. Start Keeping a Food Diary
Are you keeping track of everything that you’re eating every day? If you’re not, it’s going to make losing weight a bigger challenge than you may have anticipated.
You should make it your mission to start keeping a food diary so that you know everything that you’re putting into your body. It’ll let you see how many calories you’re taking in during each of your different meals. Maybe, more importantly, it’ll also allow you to get a glimpse of how many calories you’re taking in from foods that aren’t a part of your normal meals.
A food diary can be a very useful tool for those who are attempting to lose weight. You’ll feel like you’re in control of what you’re eating and how much you’re eating each day when you have a food diary.
5. Search for Ways to Cut Calories
As long as you’ve done everything else that we’ve already talked about here, you should find that it’ll be fairly easy to find ways to cut calories from your diet. You’ll know how many calories you’re taking in and where they’re all coming from.
From there, you can work to figure out how to cut calories from your diet. You might be able to do it by eliminating the cream and sugar that you put in your coffee. You might also be able to do it by staying away from the vending machine at work between lunch and dinner.
Whatever the case, you’ll love the fact that you can cut calories without feeling like you’re making big sacrifices when it comes to what you eat. You’ll also love how much weight you’re able to lose simply because you know how to count calories and cut them from your diet.
Knowing How to Count Calories Will Help You Lose Weight
It won’t necessarily be impossible to lose weight if you don’t know how to count calories. But it will be a whole lot harder than it has to be to get rid of the extra weight you’ve been carrying around.
It would be well worth taking the time to learn how to count calories so that you’re able to cut out some of the unnecessary calories that you’re taking in. It’ll make losing weight easier and ensure that you’re able to hit all your weight-loss goals in a hurry.
Get more great tips on losing weight and keeping it off for good by browsing through our other blog articles.
